Hiroshi Game Studios, the leading developer in advanced Virtual Reality Immersion has just released a revolutionary new game in to the world wide market. Allowing players to fully link their minds in to a vast, multi-tier world of Awaken Online. A world consisting of 100 floors, some of which are as vast as a continent, or as small as a city. With their own aesthetics, unique powers, quests, enemies, allies, and more! Hiroshi Game Studios developed Awaken Online to appeal primarily to manga and anime fans. Every in-game floor has been painstakingly created to perfectly represent a different anime universe. Populating each with rich and iconic characters for players to interact with, learn from, help, or fight. Every player is able to customize their own character with powers which will make them part of their favorite anime. From the biggest Gundams, to the most flashy energy blast, or the most dazzling martial arts! All and more are possible inside the world of Awaken Online.

The game was set to be the biggest video game release of all time. However, a single day before it's official release, a retailer began to sell copies of the title early. Roughly 10,000 players around the world got their hands on a copy and managed to log in a few hours early. After a brief time spent in their imagination wonder-land players discovered that they had been trapped. Nobody was able to log out, or exit the game. Suddenly players ability to communicate with the outside world had been totally cut off, limited completely to the in-game messaging client which only allowed players to chat with each other. Suddenly, a figure descended from the clouds. It’s sheer size and presence blocking out the sun, casting the terrified and confused players in to his shadow. It's identity was shrouded in a green robe, but the god-like entity spoke. Revealing to the players that it was The Storyteller, master of Awaken Online. The only way out was to beat the game. To progress through all 100 Floors and obtain the prize waiting for them. If they were killed in game the VR headset would kill them out in the real world.

In the first week over 2,000 players died. Either while learning the basic mechanics of the game, suicide, or error on the part of the people outside of the game world. Awaken Online is nearing the one month anniversary of taking the players hostage. A group has finally made it to the boss of the first floor. Ready to win, to take back their lives, and to beat the game.

Welcome everyone! This game is a anime fandom based adventure set in a world which follows the same concept of Sword Art Online. Each player that purchased Awaken Online before it's official launch has become trapped. They have learned that if they are killed in Awaken Online, they will die in the real world. Each of the 100 floors that make up Awaken Online's world imitates all of, or a portion of a famous anime. Floor #5 may be the western world of Trigun, or the Bleach universe locations of Soul Society and Hueco Mundo.

This RP will focus on group of players and their progress towards defeating Awaken Online. We will have Story Threads which I will use to GM the players through the different floors and big fights, as well as some sandbox Side Quest threads (which players can feel free to create and GM their own side stories) that allow players to explore their favorite floors further and gain more power! We will unlock, earn, or upgrade equipment and abilities as a result of defeating iconic foes or completing quests for iconic heroes.

We may do small time skips here and there since it would take forever to play all 100 floors! If this game picks up steam I am sure we may eventually start incorporating things like Guilds, player housing, and anything else you guys want to have included in AO.

If you are interested in joining please either comment here or PM me!

The Floors

Every floor is meant to perfectly represent a canon anime universe. Which could be awesome, or awful depending. Every floor has a “boss”, but not every floor has a dungeon which leads up to their boss. Players may have to complete a series of quests to unlock the boss, obtain some artifact, or maybe the boss is standing out in the open right from the get go and is just too strong to challenge safely!

Awaken Online NPCs are made up of canon characters, and thousands of new original characters to make each floor feel more alive. You may ask, do these floors follow the events of what happened in their anime? Are these floors “up to date” with the latest events of the show? Do these floors imitate the entire world, or just a portion of it?

The NPCs and their memories will be handled on a case by case basis. I am not creating a hard and fast rule here otherwise it would make the floors predictable! Similarly, NPCs of one universe will not all be located on that floor, or have just the powers depicted in their anime! You may encounter Spike Spiegel on the Black Lagoon floor. Or fight Ryuk from Deathnote on the Hellsing floor. A lot of floors and what is going on in them may be totally different from the events of their show, making them totally non-canon. Or the events on the floor could be locked at a specific point in the show. For instance, we may show up on the DBZ floor and find ourselves on Namek at the beginning of the Frieza Arc. Or we may arrive on the Vampire Hunter D floor and encounter a story totally different from anything stated in those movies.

Character Creation

When creating their characters every player was allowed to make their own body avatar (or import their regular body) and input 1 anime universe, their favorite from a TV show or movie, to represent their in game aesthetic and power set. Maybe a player wanted to be a cyborg cop from Ghost in the Shell, or a ninja from Naruto. Players were challenged with creating their own original character whose powers are based from their favorite anime world!

Class Breakdown

Next, players were prompted to select their starting class. These classes are based on the Fate Stay Night servant system – Archer, Saber, Lancer, Caster, Berserker, Rider, and Assassin.

Archer – Players in this class excel as highly effective scouts and range fighters, with powerful projectile weapons or special abilities related to projectile weapons.

Saber – For standard players, the Saber class is considered the most “solid” of the 8 classes. They will generally have an advantage in close range combat. The main weakness of this class is the straight forward nature of their playstyle.

Lancer – The Lancer class is most proficient with long range melee weapon, balancing a mixture of speed, strength and agility to defeat their opponents with hit and run tactics

Caster – Caster class users are usually adept in magecraft, sorcery, summoning and everything in between. Generally though they are weak in direct combat

Berserker – The Berserker class power set focuses on resilience, toughness, crushing their opponents with brute force. Players with this class usually possess a “rage” form or mechanic associated with their character, or are generally players who tend to go berserk. The main weakness of this class is Berserker class users is an inability to sustain their power over a prolonged fight, and when tapping in to their full potential, they often cannot distinguish friend from foe

Rider – This is also referred to as the “Mount Class”. Players in this class are known for riding mounts, whether living beasts or human constructs. A Rider is most effective in combat while mounted, and generally speaking has few weaknesses if they are. The main downside of this class is that a Rider is by far the weakest class if a Rider is forced to battle without his mount

Assassin – Players of this class are skilled at operating covertly, silently, and combating their opponents with the use of stealth and single life-ending strikes. They are, true to the title, assassins. However, this class is weaker in a direct confrontation with the enemy focused on attacking the Assassin

Master - * new class * This is a totally new class created by Hiroshi Games, separate from the Fate Stay Night core classes. Unlike the other classes, when this one is selected a player will actually select a canon anime character.. That character becomes their Servant. Leaving the player as the Master. This servant has a personality of their own (mirroring their personality in their show/movie), and will provide insight, advice, and do everything they can to protect their Master. The strength of this class is the Master does not need to put themselves directly in harms way, and if a Servant is killed in battle they may be re-summoned. However, Servants are generally less powerful then other class player-characters. This class will require the role-player to RP as two characters at once. Servants will not start with a Noble Phantasm

Keep in mind! Just because you are a Saber does not mean you cannot have magic abilities. Also, just because you are Caster does not meant that you cannot have melee abilities. The outlines above just indicate where your character will be most effective in combat. These classes are meant to help give the roleplayer a solid archetype direction, help define their initial power set, strengths/weaknesses, as well as create diversity in the RP group.

Eventually players will unlock Advanced Classes!

Combat and Game

For now there will not be a stat system in the game. But since this setting is literally a video game there will be game-y elements. These will come through in things like seasonal events! Seasonal rewards for unusual quests. Players still have a in-game user interface where they can access their equipment, send private messages to other players, receive quest pop ups, unlock Advanced Classes, roll for loot, and more! Please feel free to suggest anything that you would like to see added to this.

Awaken Online's difficulty will increase steadily between each floor. However, every 10th floor will be considered a “Mega Floor”, which will be more challenging by a good degree than any of the previous ones. This will create situations eventually where the AO players will become more hesitant to move on, or find themselves incapable of defeating the floor with the same speed as those before it.

I use the same system for combat in the previous games that I have run, and it seems to be successful. Players will post what they do during their turn in the fight. They will describe visually what it looks like, clearly indicate any special powers used or tactical plan they are setting up, and even suggest what outcome their character is expecting to happen. Then, after all players have posted, I will make a GM post that tells everyone what the result was of their attacks. Then I will write for the enemies, give players a chance to defend themselves and attack again. Back and forth we go until someone dies!

Progression System

I want players to feel like they are getting stronger as they continue to RP! This system is still a WIP, but the high level explanation right now is players will be able to create new abilities from their canon universe, or increase the strength of existing ones abilities they already have. A player could also choose to adopt a new power from the universe of a defeated floor.

Once again, these abilities you invent when you earn them, and the abilities you start with will not be based on stats! Upgrading your character is meant to only be limited by your imagination, pending that it follows the previously mentioned rules. A Naruto character could choose to invent their own bloodline techniques, or get themselves a fancy new Zanpakuto from the Bleach universe a few floors back.

GM Reminders

Anime characters and their universe have vastly different power scales! Some can destroy worlds (DBZ), some are just really awesome regular people (Cowboy Bebop). A character who chooses to play a DBZ power set will probably start with energy blast type abilities, whereas someone who chooses to play a Cowboy Bebop power set may just be a roguish fighter with a gun. This does not mean that a DBZ characters blast do more damage then a Cowboy Bebop characters gun! Every player has a unseen level in Awaken Online which influences their damage, speed, power, etc. This level is increased through quest completion, combat, and non-combat experiences.

Sex and smut between characters is totally allowed, and even encouraged since it is a big part of playing on Elliquiy. Players can feel free to include this in their own side quest adventures, make their own X rated threads, or just RP through PM. Whatever your preference!

This is a big one – I have seen a lot of anime, but I have not seen anywhere near all of what is out there. I have focused primarily on the main stream shows and movies, catching some of the more obscure stuff here and there. I will do my best to represent these floors well but I will make mistakes! Please do not get upset with continuity errors or errors in how I represent a character or anime.

This game is about combat, adventure, and survival. I am not going to make a rule saying you have to select a “combat anime” universe, everyone is open to select whatever universe they want if they can justify a power set out of it. However, I would not recommend selecting a universe that won't make it easy for you to think up cool powers and abilities.

While the ultimate goal of the game is to “get out” of Awaken Online, the real world will not be a focus of the game. Similarly, who your characters were before entering this game will not be a story focus of the game. Players can choose to RP details about who they are in the real world as much or as little as they want.

I try to actively edit the structure and “features” inside of my RPs as it goes to keep it fun, interesting, and balanced! The game will always be a WIP. Please send me any ideas that you have and would like to see incorporated in to Awaken Online.

[center][size=14pt][b]Name – Your name here[/b][/size][/center][center][size=12pt][b]Anime Origin – This is the universe you selected right off the bat which determined your characters first set of gear (your aesthetic)[/b][/size][/center][center][size=12pt][b]Class - [/b][/size][/center]

[floatright][img height=300]http://Flavor image[/img][/floatright] – This is not required. If you can find a picture you like to represent the look of your character, please place that here. If not, a flavor image would be great too!

Appearance/Style Description – Your character is a OC, so what does your character look like? DO NOT indicate whether you created a unique avatar, or imported your real body. This will remain a mystery that players can choose to divulge through RP if they want.

Personality – What is your character like? Is he a lone wolf sort, or a team player?

Backstory – What I am primarily looking for in this is what your character has been doing over the last month. How have they handled being trapped in this world. You do not need to include your “real world” backstory if you do not want to.

Powers/Equipment – This is intentionally a little open ended. Please briefly describe your normal abilities and/or equipment, as well as any special abilities that your character has. Try to keep your number of special abilities in the 2-3 range. Remember, you are still considered a “starting character” in this world. They would not be world breaking powers at this point.

Strengths – What does your character consider to be their strengths? Maximum of 3

Weaknesses – What does your character consider to be their weaknesses? Note, these may not include Class weaknesses. Minimum of 2

I would not consider flight to be overboard at the start. By world breaking powers I am more referring to ultimate attacks that blow up entire planets from DBZ. Basically any power that has the potential to blow up an entire city would be off limits at the start of the game.

That is correct! After the start of the game players will be able to pick up abilities/gear from other anime. For example, lets say you complete a quest on the Kill la Kill floor which required you to defeat some student council member, and obtain their uniform. Your quest reward could be a Secret Technique scroll from Naruto. I want to try and mix things up so that players are not only limited to powers from their own anime, quest rewards that are specific to the floor they are on, etc. When you get stronger and I give you the ability to design your own new power you can also create a new power from any universe we have already defeated. Using the same example, if we beat the Kill la Kill floor and you get a chance to design a new power, you could make something that would only be accessible in the Kill la Kill universe.

Classes will have a medium to heavy effect on combat. Primarily they are there to help me balance fights. There will be no power restrictions based on class. Every class can ride mounts, do melee combat, cast spells, etc. But they will be most effective fighting the way their class dictates.

To some degree I will have to feel this out after the game begins, but I think its going to work well. Eventually we will unlock Advanced Classes where players will be able to be a Lancer/Caster combo, or become a more specialized or unique Assassin, etc. I want players to be able to invent their own Advanced Classes as well!

This got my interest. I would like to know the scope of what shows will characters be coming from, and what are your thoughts on certain live action series (such as Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman).

I'm going to admit, I'm a bit cautiously inclined at the moment.The idea seems fun and all, but I'm wondering how people will deal with anime/worlds they're not familiar with.

For example I've heard quite a few people tell me Hellsing is great...But I've never really gotten around to it myself, and while I wouldn't mind looking a bit up to blend in.Doing so for a slew of other series would get pretty tedious, pretty quickly. So yeah, would we be permitted to skip/avoid those floors? Would we be forced to readup, or... [other options]

This got my interest. I would like to know the scope of what shows will characters be coming from, and what are your thoughts on certain live action series (such as Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman).

For now no, those would not be applicable because they are not animated. I may change my mind on this later down the line once the game has picked up a bit.

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This got my interest. I would like to know the scope of what shows will characters be coming from, and what are your thoughts on certain live action series (such as Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman).

Unfortunately no. While I will try to make sure that Floors appeal to every player, it's unavoidable that some players will not be familiar with an anime world that is the temporary focus of the main story. You don't need to go watch the anime to understand what is going on for the in-game story. Just to understand who the characters are and what powers to expect from the NPCs and enemies.

Godzilla (Yes, toho just released an Anime version of my favorite Kaiju) (Totally Berserker in this!)

Trigun (Over the top western gun slinging? HELL YEAH~)

I have a couple of questions though. For the "Master Class" If I chose someone like Bruno Global/Jack Wild (SDF Macross/Frontier) Would they have access to their respective ships? I.E. Being able to call down an orbital/Air Strike from their respective Fortresses. This would include Junzo Okita, and the Yamato.

Or if I use Char Azanble, or Norris Packard. Will they have access to their mobile suits?

Also, if a player chooses an Anime where mecha combat is very prevalent like Full Metal Panic, Macross, Gundam, etc. Will the player have access to a mecha from that universe, possibly not a "Hero Mecha" Like the Gundam, Arbalest, or Skull One. But like a production Suit like a Zaku II, or VF-1A Valkyrie.

When it comes to mecha suits most of the characters in that genre I imagine would fit in to the Rider class. IE, their mobile suit is their mount. The Master class follows a similar logic in that the associated Servant would lean towards one class or another, which would probably make the servant lean towards he Rider class as well.

Yes! You will be able to get powers that let you call down air strikes and such, but these will be treated more like summons from Final Fantasy, which pop in, do their thing, then pop out. As opposed to it actually being there all the time.

Good question! No, you would not get an innate bonus while in the Universe of your origin. Though you may unlock a special quest which gives you access to a unique Advanced Class!

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Is this going to be original characters or canon characters?

Everyone will be rolling up their own original character, with a powerset that comes from a anime universe of their choosing. The only exception to this is those players who selected the Master Class! If you do you will still create a OC, but you will also be choosing and making a sheet for your Servant, who is a canon character.

For now no, those would not be applicable because they are not animated. I may change my mind on this later down the line once the game has picked up a bit.

Unfortunately no. While I will try to make sure that Floors appeal to every player, it's unavoidable that some players will not be familiar with an anime world that is the temporary focus of the main story. You don't need to go watch the anime to understand what is going on for the in-game story. Just to understand who the characters are and what powers to expect from the NPCs and enemies.

Understood. We'll keep to the more familiar series then. Which ones do you have in mind at the moment, or will we end up listing what anime we're familiar with?

:)

Edit: May end up picking something from a Shonen Jump series. Maybe Shaman King, or even Yugioh (which would mostly function well as a mage class)? Still need a better gauge of overall lineup to figure things out.

I'm still debating on the location for the very first Floor (which all of you would be aware of when we start the game) but after that I was going to let players either:

A) Want the floors to remain a secret so that it can be a new reveal thing each time we complete a floor, orB) Get to choose what the Floor is OOC before we get to it

To be honest, I like "A" more, and it would be truer to a Video Game setting. Making each new floor a surprise for the group. Somethings it is to your advantage, sometimes it ain't.

Though for the Side Quests, and Player Ran Side Areas could be discussed in the OOC.

As for Anime Series. Would our Characters be limited to One Specific Series, or The Franchise?

What I mean is that there are several long lasting franchises out. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Gundam, and Yamato to name a few. So if I chose a Character from the SDF: Macross verse. Would they have access to all the Tech/goodies from the Franchise, or only from a specific series like Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Macross Frontier, Macross 7, macross +

Also, how would one balance Power between players? Depending on which universe the player chooses, they can either be far more "Effective" or putting themselves at a severe disadvantage throughout the game. IE: If someone chose power/skill set of the DBZ universe they could easily rank up to be able to fly, shoot Ki energy from their hands, and destroy planets. Granted they have to scream at the top of their lungs for a week or two before they can do that, but still. Versus someone from like Cowboy Bebop, or Black Lagoon where there are no over the top super powers?

Players can choose to give henselves acces to the entire franchise if they want.

Regarding balancing and different character powers, I will be keeping the effect of player abilities on a relatively similar power scale. Even though aesthetically a ki blast is far more epic, in the interest of balance it won’t be hitting harder than a Black Lagoon characters sniper rifle.

Players who come from a series (like Black Lagoom) where there is not a lot of growth room can feel free to stick with their universe when inventing new powers, or start taking some from conquered Floors